Newspaper Club: Take Two!
by mimikaito52
Summary: Saviour of the Newspaper Club Shizuru is frustrated that the only person who doesn't love her is Kyoya Ootori, eccentric gaming consultant Chieki sees the twins as her gaming gods and photographer Shinji managed to fall in love with Renge at first sight but he kind of regrets it after realizing she has dedicated herself to the Otome Road.


**Why hello there~**

**Hope everyone is having a great 2013 and personally I'm looking forward to the coming year! Just thought I'd try something new. If you guys dislike it just tell me how I can improve, please. Frankly, I hated Chizuru throughout her entire inner monologue—but I have to practice writing 'perfectly flawed' characters without making them Mary-Sue, Chieki reminds me of an awkward penguin of a cousin I have and Shinji…I genuinely don't know why but I liked the idea of him being part of their weird little club. This is the prologue and only a glimpse into their separate thoughts. The rest will be written in 3rd person (out of my comfort zone, yay!) And it just occurred to me that the twins are unfathomably rude when they first start high school, since they aren't used to people yet so I tried to incorporate that.**

_Present day…_

For as long as I can remember, I've always gotten what I wanted simply because of the type of person I was.

"Shizuru-chan, your hair looks so pretty today! Can you tell us some of your hair secrets?"

"Ahaha," I waved a hand around flippantly. To be honest, I didn't want to begin divulging the truth. That I spend over two hours conditioning and styling my hair. That's not what they want to hear from someone like me. They want to hear how easy it is for me, because it gives them a false sense of hope.

Hope that the way I look is effortless and easily attainable if they try. "It's nothing really! It's always been like this."

"No way. What about your skin? It's so pale and smooth. You _must _use something different from all of us!"

I smiled kindly. They had no idea.

"You girls," the vice class captain came over to us, a stern expression on his face. He adjusted the sleeves of his butter-coloured sweater, something which he typically did when attempting to talk to girls. I'd heard rumours that he had a crush on me and he was planning to confess, but I'm glad they turned out to be untrue. I genuinely liked his character, despite his unsympathetic nature evident in his dark brown eyes.

"Class is about to start. Take your seats before teacher comes."

"Oh alright, alright," one girl sighed wearily. "Another lesson with this man. I just hope I don't fall asleep," she mumbled.

Slowly, they aired out the area around my desk, taking with them vibrantly coloured magazines and mechanical pencils.

Saying that appearances don't matter in this world is a bald-faced lie. At a place like this, your outside comes first, then your effort is acknowledged last. So what if I'm shallow? So what if I'm classified as beautiful?

I've gotten so far in life…should it really matter?

However, I know it's presumptuous to say that I don't get bored of it from time to time. Flashing a smile here, sending a flirtatious glance there, flipping your hair over your shoulder over there…becomes a little tedious, you know?

Or perhaps you don't. You've probably worked for everything you've got and can take a step back and examine the fruits proudly. You don't have to live so dependently on others and their aesthetic standards. Lucky you.

"Where's Class President?"

Vice President—or I should be calling him by his name, Tanaka—brightened.

"Kyoya had some other things to attend to with the Principal. He told me he wouldn't be able to lead class today so I'm filling in for him."

Why is he happy about this?

Kyoya Ootori…hm…I can honestly say that I've interacted with him the least in the class, save for the odd greetings and mumbled thanks when he congratulated me for scoring the fourth highest in the class for the first time. He seemed to only be social because of the circle he associated himself with…the Host Club, one of the most popular clubs in the school, solely because of how…er…_unique_ their activities were.

"Oop," Tanaka scrambled to his seat and stood behind his chair. "Stand!" he commanded brusquely.

The class obeyed.

"Bow!"

We all lowered our heads.

I want to be known for something besides my face. I want to be known for being the girl who revived the Newspaper Club.

I want to be known as the girl who got into Class A, second year and came fourth in the girls' section in mid-terms.

And I'm _frustrated._

I'm frustrated because that sort of person only exists in my dreams. My _reality_ is merely what everyone around me wants it to be in their eyes. The cute laughing pretty girl who has adoring parents and could have any boy she wanted. Someone people can idolize and hope to become.

"Sit!"

I'm also frustrated because the only one who sees me the way I want to be seen is the one man in the world I can't have.

And his name is Kyoya Ootori.

…

_Beginning of That Year…_

"You know, Ami-chan, you're not so scary when people get to know you."

Only one person has ever said that to me.

I didn't even know up until then that I came across as scary. I wonder what I'd done to earn a reputation like that?

Frankly all I ever do is play games on my console…what's so scary about that?

Maybe they think that since my head is always down, I don't want to talk? But how am I supposed to not die and level up if I don't watch my character through the stage? And I always listen. When I'm not playing a boss level that requires all my attention, I'll be listening to you. And if I am playing that boss level, I'll just pause.

Is it perhaps my face?

I wish I had a face like Shizuru's when I ask myself this. She's so pretty and everyone seems to like her. Perhaps that's what I'm lacking? Social skills. Social skills. How to interact?

Why doesn't a boy make a pass at me?

Maybe I'll ask Shizuru about this again, perhaps I'm confusing myself? When I was in the Literary Club, I never had this much trouble talking to people—perhaps because all the members had their noses in their books and shushed me whenever they heard the beep of my console? They seemed a little freaked that I gave my console a nickname of Abigail too.

Well, frankly, Abigail's a way better friend than those guys.

But not as great as Shizuru and Shinji, who are in the Newspaper Club with me. And that was all I ever needed up until then. I hadn't been in high school long—a month perhaps—and my middle school faded in comparison to the excitement in my life at having two best friends.

I pressed a button on my console and I jumped, before falling into the abyss between the two cliff edges.

The game wailed loudly.

"What was that sound?" the student librarian on duty said sharply.

I slid Abigail back into my backpack and lifted my book up.

She passed by my table, giving everyone on it a dirty look.

"The noise sounded like it came from here," she narrowed her eyes. "Hikaru, Kaoru, what are you up to?"

_"We didn't do anything."_

I peered up from behind my book. I hadn't noticed the two boys sitting opposite me with books open on random pages, with a pack of pocky displayed blatantly on one double page illustration of the human skeleton.

They were twins with ginger hair parted left one side of one head and right the other. Coupled with a bored expression shown clearly in yellow eyes. One was leaning back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling, whilst the other was reading a comic book on the side, leaning against the wall beside him.

"That's hurtful, Ms Librarian," a deep voice came from the one staring at the ceiling. "We're just here minding our own business—"

"—picking on us isn't very nice, is it Hikaru?" a softer, lighter voice confirmed, flipping the page of his book. "We're actually studying, you know."

"_Tamaki-sempai really is unfair, throwing us out of the Music Room for misbehaving again."_

The Librarian stared at the two coldly. "Making noise in this Library is absolutely forbidden."

"We haven't said a word since we got here,"—which was true—"ah, but we did do something wrong, didn't we, Hikaru?"

"Yeah, you're right Kaoru," the one called Hikaru closed his eyes thoughtfully. "There's _that_."

"You two! You always come in here and make trouble!" she fumed. "A-and what did you do?" she added as an afterthought.

The two remained silent, each continuing with what they had been doing up until this point.

"Hey!"

"Ah, Hikaru, Ms Librarian is still here, I think."

"Seriously? Doesn't she realize she's making noise in the Library? You should know, making noise in this Library is absolutely forbidden—"

"_I know that_!" she snapped loudly.

The teacher Librarian came around the corner, finger to his lip. "Ssssh!"

She flushed.

"Makihara? Are you the one making noise for these students?" he adjusted his glasses angrily. "You know the rules! I thought you knew better. Come back to the desk and arrange the books like you're supposed to!"

"Yes, sir."

"_You should probably take this with you. We took this out and forgot to get it stamped," _Kaoru shook off the pack and handed her the book with the skeleton illustration. "Sorry about that," he said politely.

I watched the librarian go, before she threw a dirty look over her shoulder in sheer hatred.

"She's not as nice as the last one."

"Agreed."

"Thank you," I piped up.

In perfect synchrony, they shifted their gaze towards me.

"You're in our class, aren't you?" Hikaru wondered.

"Chiemi Habara," Kaoru affirmed, "you chose to sit somewhere in the front, right?"

I nodded vigorously behind my book. I was afraid that anything I said would be uncool to these two. I'd played games with characters like these. The most prominent being Uki Doki Memorial for the DS where the twins characters were very valiant and smart, both part of the basketball team.

"You've got some guts playing games in a Library," Kaoru replaced his comic book in his bag.

"But if you're gonna do that, it's better to do so in that corner over there. The books will cover you at some angles," Hikaru pushed his chair back, "don't trouble the people who actually want to study."

I wanted to ask where they were going, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to ask something that personal yet. Wasn't I supposed to gain some sort of relationship XP before that?

"_We're off_." They raised their hands in farewell.

But I didn't want them to leave just yet.

I got out of my seat and fumbled with my backpack. I ran after them. They both turned, hands on their hips, a questioning look on both their faces.

I shoved Abigail into Hikaru's chest.

"I keep dying," I announced.

They stared at me.

"You keep dying?"

"I think she means in the game."

"We can't know for sure…hey, Chiemi, are you talking about in the game?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

I flushed. I pushed Abigail deeper into his chest.

"Let's help her out, Hikaru. If we do, she'll owe us and that could be useful in the future."

I wasn't sure how to react to that. But who was I to question social etiquette? Games were all I knew.

"I can't continue to the next level," I explained. "Are you any good with games?"

They looked at each other tiredly.

"Not like we have anything better to do," Hikaru shrugged, unpausing my game. Kaoru looked over Hikaru's shoulder. I stood there, watching the concentration flit across Hikaru's face for a second.

It dully occurred to me that they were literally identical twins. I hadn't met that kind before. My eyes darted between their two faces, trying to find a single difference. All I could find was the parting of their hair, besides that, the golden eyes, the face structure, the nose, _everything_. It was all the same.

He passed it back to me.

"Done…already?" I stared at the screen. My avatar was bobbing up and down, ready for action in Level 87.

I pressed the menu button, leading me to the difficulty level.

It was set to hard, as I knew it would be.

"Wha…wait how did you…?!"

But they were gone.

…

_Mid-first semester, that year…_

I wonder if I told her how I felt, she'd accept my feelings.

Or would she just laugh and explain to me, like the rest, that she couldn't possibly like someone like me? Someone who's real?

Ever since I saw her, waiting outside the Principal's office in the middle of the first semester, twisting a handkerchief in her hands, biting her lip I knew I felt something different for her.

Everything about her was beautiful, from her long slightly blonde hair, styled perfectly in a half-ponytail with a red ribbon.

"Are you lost?" I'd asked her.

She looked up at me with nervous doe brown eyes that cut my chest with an unbelievable pain; pain almost as deep as the excruciating look on her face as she nodded. I never figured myself to be a romantic up until then, but I quickly realized I just might be in love.

"I've already seen the principal," she murmured. "B-but I can't find the South Hall by myself."

"South Hall?" I smiled at her. "It's just down there," I pointed. "Then you turn left,"—she stared up at me.

I made way for her to walk past me. Suddenly she gripped the sleeve of my blazer.

She flushed.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'm sorry…b-b-but could you show me the way?" her voice rose a little towards the end, seemingly intensifying the desperation in her eyes. "I have to make it to the end of South Hall no matter what!"

"Haha, what's there that's so important?"

She hesitated. "M-m-my fiancé," she said in a small voice.

My heart sank.

No.

It probably did more than that. It sank, and plummeted down in my chest followed by a sickly sharp constriction of my lungs and exploded into a million pieces somewhere near my diaphragm.

"Fiance," I laughed lightly. I wasn't surprised. A lot of people I knew in the Photography Club were engaged to be married already.

"Yes. He's the most beautiful, caring, respectable man in the world."

I winced.

Talk about short-lived love.

"I flew all the way from France to meet him!" she declared.

"Huh. France, was it?"

"But I'm so nervous!" she squealed, covering her face. "I just hope he's like he always is. Y'know, I first met him, and he was admiring the flowers in the school garden. It was so romantic."

"Huhh…i-is that so?" I smiled fakely. Somebody. Please end my life now. Whilst I still have an edge over this girl's wonder-fiancé.

"He also has the most amazing eyes and he's so kind and he always enjoys my cooking and lunchboxes,"—too late—"I don't think I've ever been in love with anyone as much as I love him."

"I-i-is that…_so_?"

"He's probably not the type to be popular, because he's so shy and introverted, but that's what I love about his character type y'know?"

"Is that…" I shook my head. "M-may I ask his name?"

"Oh," she giggled. "Kyoya. Kyoya Ootori."

I stopped in my tracks.

"Kyoya Ootori."

"Yes. Kyoya Ootori," she swivelled to meet my eyes. "Do you know him perhaps?"

"Kyoya Ootori. Of the Host Club?"

"That's him!" the girl of my dreams squealed.

Which was about the time I realized how out of touch Renge was with the real world.

But I'm sure that didn't bother me. It doesn't bother me now, after meeting people like Shizuru and Chieki, I'm sure it doesn't bother me now. Even though Chizuru says I love her for her looks, I don't believe that. It doesn't bother me that when I confessed to her after she broke her engagement off with Kyoya she rejected my feelings based on the fact that her heart belonged to the _otome road._

It doesn't.

Nope.

Not at all.


End file.
